Sling TV review | Sports, Entertainment, Channels, Cost

Comprehensive review of Sling TV

Hello guys and welcome to my latest review, where I will give you another reason to ditch your cable service (especially the sports fans), and believe me, this is the one you can’t resist.

In this article I am going the review Sling TV, another online streaming platform like Netflix, Hulu Plus, yet so different and also the most compelling of all. With the facility of streaming sports and ongoing live shows, Sling TV is one of its kind online streaming service which gives you all the reasons to join the cord cutters community.

Although there are a lot of great online streaming services in today’s market, but over the years, traditional ways of watching TV has made its space in viewers heart. No matter how many TV shows and Movies you have in your online streaming catalog, there will always be some reasons to miss cable, and that’s when Sling TV comes into picture.

Sling TV changed the whole direction of online media streaming, by introducing sports and current channels in it. It also offers some famous kids and family entertainment channels like Cartoon Network, abc Family etc.

No wonder the service amazing and worth every penny, but as we all know, nothing is perfect. So lets begin with the review where I will cover every aspect (cost, channels, rivals, viewing experience, user review and much more), which will surely help you, to take you decision.

What is Sling TV and How It Works ?

Unveiled in January 2015, Sling TV is a subscription based, live internet streaming service which allows its subscribers, to watch over 40 popular channels which were earlier available to cable subscribers only.

The American streaming giant offers a really good mix of entertainment, sports and news which its subscribers can access without a cord.

The reason why Sling TV is so popular among the online streming portals is because, it is the only service in the market which offers its user to access sports channels like ESPN, ESPN2, beIN Sports etc via internet, at such nominal prices.

Along with this it offers popular channels like ABC, AMC, Bloomberg and kids channels like Cartoon Network, Disney which makes it worth every penny.

How to Subscribe?

As I mentioned earlier, Sling TV is a subscription based service, which charge its subscribers on a monthly basis. The subscription process is pretty easy, user just have to visit the the official website and follow some basic on-screen instructions. Subscribers can straight away use the 7 days free trial as soon as they are done with the subscription process.

Unlike cable networks, there are no hidden terms and conditions which will bound its subscribers in any troublesome contracts. Subscribers have the freedom to cancel their service anytime they want, without any penalty.

Channels and Cost

Sling TV serve its subscribers, as a substitute to Cable and Satellite TV, by offering various channel which users can access with the help of internet.

The online streaming portal has combined features of both online streaming services like Netflix, Hulu Plus etc. and the cable TV channels, which means with the comfort online streaming you can also get rid of cord contracts and heavy bills.

The channels provided on its basic plan aka ‘ Best of Live TV’ costs $20 per month. The pack includes 23 channels which you can stream on a supporting device.

The other good thing about the service is that you can also upgrade your pack with the addons which are quite cheap (most of them are of $5). There are several addons classified according to their gerne, such that it is quite easy to select the type of content(News, Sports, Lifestyle Kids etc.) you want. Some of the addons packs are given below.

Sports Extra

Sling TV also offers an extra treat for the sports lovers, as along with the sports channels which comes with the basic pack, subscribers can also add the Sports Extra package which gives the access to 10 more sports channels with an additional cost of just $5 per month.

Kids Extra

Yet another reason to love Sling TV is the kids addon on its package list. The package Kids Extra contains some of the popular Animation and Kids channels, which makes Sling TV a pretty good deal for its family consumers.

World News Extra

Cable is a good source of news as it has plenty of news channels, so in the process of chord cutting we miss a lot of genuine news and often rely on the updates from the social media, which I think is not as good as we believe.

Sling TV also offers few news channels with its World News Extra addon, which will help you to get updated about every important thing happening around the world, and that too in $5 per month.

The channels in the World News Extra package are NDTV, Euronews, News 18 India, HLN, RT.

HBO on-demand and HBO Live

Sling TV also offers its subscribers the access of one of the most famous entertainment service HBO. The addon is of $15 per month (which is same as HBO NOW), with which you can access all the channels and services offered by HBO (HBO GO and HBO NOW).

There are few more addons for movies, shows etc (Movies Extra, Life style Extra,Columbia Extra etc) which you can add to your basic plan. For complete list of remaining channels in the remaining packages click here.

Sling TV Rivals in The Market

Now that you know, SlingTV is an internet based live online streamingservice so there is no point in comparing it with the on-demand services likeNetflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Videos etc. Both kind of services have their own market and customers.

Sling TV is mostly used by the people who want to access the live shows, sports, news just like cable and satellite TV, but don’t want to spent hundreds of dollars on other useless channel. On the other hand, the on-demand services are totally different, they have a bulk of content (TV Shows, Movies, Documentaries etc.) which you can stream anytime you want, and there is no restriction of timings.

Also there are few other services which allow you to stream sports online, but they are either full of annoying adds or are quite expensive. So in terms of price and viewing experience also, Sling TV is a better option for sports.

Devices Supporting Sling TV

The device support of Sling TV is also pretty good, although it is not as wide as Netflix’s and Hulu Plus have. The reason being, many of the smart TVs don’t have the Sling TV app, but they are working on it and soon be coming up with a solution.

So here is the list of devices which support Sling TV.

All Android Platforms

All iOS platforms

Mac ans PC

Amazon Fire Stick

Roku 2 and Roku 3

Free Amazon fire stick and Roku Box

This is one of the great feature of Sling TV, as most of the new cord cutters don’t have a streaming devices or other mediums. Sling TV provides you with few free devices which will help you to stream Sling TV on your TV. Some of the devices are:-

Free Amazon Stick with a 3 mont subscription.

Free Roku 2 box with a 3 month subscription.

$50 Amazon Fire TV Box free for 3 months subscription.

50% off on Roku 3 for 3 months subscription

For availing these offers customers must subscribe and prepay for 3 months, which is $60, all in all it is a great deal.

Now some Cons

Along with all the great and unique features mentioned Sling TV also has some cons, which you should consider before subscribing the service.

The first and foremost thing is that, you can not watch or stream content in more than 1 device at a time (simultaneously). On the other hand services like Netflix, HBO NOW support upto 5 devices at a time. So if you have more than 1 TV at your home, then you have to subscribe for more than 1 account. Although the addons like HBO and International packs, allow you to stream in 3 screens simultaneously.

Few of its users have reported some problems with the viewing experience, interface etc, but a lot of users are happy with the service. There might be some problems in some areas, but you can figure that out with free trial of 7 days.

Sling TV has a lot of features which matches with the cable services, and advertisements are 1 of them. Just like Cable Sling TV also shows commercials in between programs.

Sling TV does not have the play, pause and rewind feature in many of its channels.

Sling TV has also started a new DVR service. The service seems great ad bring us a much closer experience of the traditional TV, with very less cost.

At last, I will conclude my review by saying that, despite few cons, Sling TV is great service and the closest replacement of cable with sports, news, and ongoing shows.

So if you are a cord cutter and still miss cable, Sling TV is the best and cheapest service available in the market, for you. You can also contact customer support for more details.

That’s all guys, I hope my review of Sling TV will help you in taking your decision. If you think I am missing something, or if you have any question related to Sling TV or any other online streaming services, feel free to leave a comment. I will try my best to solve your problem. Also share your experience with sling TV and help others to know the service better.

Related

Comments

We are thinking about cutting the cord and like the HULU option. However, we worried we would miss sports and CNN. With Sling, are you saying we would get ESPN, but would have to watch it live and real time? Also, is there a list of HULU Plus channels somewhere?

Yes Stacy you have to watch those shows in real time if you subscribe for Sling TV.
Both CNN and ESPN are available in the basic ($20/month) plan for Sling TV.
Hulu is another good option for cord cutting, but unlike sling, this real time viewing is not applicable on sling TV, you can watch your shows anytime you want.
Here is a list of Hulu Plus channels- http://www.freeurtv.com/hulu-channels-list-major-networks-tv-shows/